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Table of Contents
What is this Document About?
This document gives you the basic information you
need to use your WAM, Glue or GRACE Unix account. It provides the
basics
for managing files in Unix, the operating system of the computer
where your WAM, Glue or GRACE account resides.
This document assumes that you are using your WAM, Glue or
GRACE account
from a terminal window by using a computer in a lab, an office at
the University, or at home.
Note: Access to WAM labs at the University is
limited. You must have a valid University ID to use the
labs.
Information on connecting to a WAM, Glue or GRACE host computer
from a
WAM lab is available in other
Office of Information Technology (OIT) documents, including:
For
information regarding University residence hall network
connectivity, see
http://www.helpdesk.umd.edu/topics/communication/ethernet/residence/
or call 301.314.DATA.
All WAM, Glue and GRACE accounts are governed by the University of Maryland Guidelines
for the Acceptable Use of Computing Resources.
Conventions Used in this Document
This document uses several fonts to help clarify the meaning of
the text:
| light
text |
This courier text is for characters
and text displayed on your
screen by the host computer. |
| bold
text |
This courier text is for words or
characters you type. |
| italic text |
Places an emphasis on terms. Also used
as a general word or phrase for which you
must substitute a specific
example (for your-loginname you
substitute
johndoe). |
When referring to pressing the Enter or Return
key on the
keyboard, we'll say "press Enter".
Note: Unix is case-sensitive. This means it
makes a difference whether you type commands or filenames
in UPPER or lower case. Thus FILE3 is different
from file3.
How Do I get a Workstation at Maryland (WAM) or Glue Account?
To apply for a new WAM or Glue account, go
to
http://www.oit.umd.edu/new/.
You will see the OIT Welcome page, select the category
pertaining to your status at the university. Follow the
instructions on the application. Complete details on the
application process are presented when you login.
WAM and Glue accounts are only for University of Maryland
College Park students, faculty and staff.
How Do I Get a GRACE Account?
The GRACE (Glue Research and Academic Computing Environment) cluster
has been established for instructional and research usage of the faculty,
staff and students of the University of Maryland College Park. It is a
cluster of four Unix servers, two running Solaris and two running
RedHat Enterprise Linux, and is part of the Glue system.
To access the GRACE cluster you must first have a Glue account. Request
a Glue account here. Instructors who wish to use the GRACE cluster
for their class can request access
by filling out this
form. Researchers who wish to use the GRACE cluster for their
projects can request access
by filling out
this form.
There are general information pages on the system
available at http://www.grace.umd.edu. Here
is a
general overview of the GRACE cluster written by a professor in the
Computer
Science department.
Connecting to Your WAM, Glue or GRACE Account
To establish remote access to your WAM, Glue or GRACE account, you must
make a
terminal connection.
One way to make a terminal connection and access your account
is to use a terminal program. Terminals allow you to access the WAM,
Glue and GRACE servers. Below are the basic steps to getting started with
terminal
programs.
Connecting with Terminal Applications on Windows PCs and Macs
It is generally more secure to connect to your WAM, Glue or
GRACE
account with a terminal application that uses SSH (secure
shell). Terminal applications that use SSH include:
- F-Secure(text-only for Windows PCs)
- XLiveCD (X Windows display manager for Windows PCs)
- Terminal (text-only for Mac OS X; this is a default application
in Mac OS
X)
- Mac X11 (X Windows display manager for Mac OS X)
To obtain one of the programs above, see
http://www.helpdesk.umd.edu/topics/applications/terminal/.
Logging in for the First Time
Once you've established a connection with the WAM, Glue or
GRACE system, you may see a prompt on the screen:
login:
Type your login name and press Enter. Your
login is the name you selected when you applied for your WAM/Glue
account.
Then you will see a prompt:
Password:
Type your password (it will not be displayed when you type
it) and press Enter. Remember that Unix is
case-sensitive, so you must type your password exactly as you
typed it when you selected it. You will then be logged in.
In some environments you may see a prompt:
TERM = (unknown)
If you do, type vt100 and press
Enter (unless you think your workstation is set up for a
different terminal type, in which case you should use that
type). Next you will see the message:
There is unread WAMnews. Read
(y/n)?
It is a good idea to read WAMnews to keep abreast of current
developments on the WAM system. To do this, type
y and press Enter. During your first
login, though, you will probably want to skip it by typing
n and pressing Enter. Each time you log in
to your WAM account you will be asked if you wish to read unread
WAMnews.
Note: For Glue users, there is a similar Glue news
system.
Next, you will see a prompt that will give the name of the
machine you are logged in to, followed by :~:.
Some typical prompts include:
rac3:~:
y:~:
z:~:
When we refer to a command prompt throughout this
document, we are referring to the prompts illustrated
above.
Logging Off
To log off (or exit) from your WAM, Glue or GRACE account, type
logout at the command prompt and press
Enter.
It is important to log off when you finish using the WAM, Glue
or GRACE
system so that no one else uses your account.
You are liable at all times for the activity on your
account-including e-mail and posting of news articles. All
WAM, Glue and GRACE accounts are governed by the University of Maryland
Guidelines for the Acceptable Use of Computing Resources.
Ending Your Sun Ultra or Linux Workstation Session: Logout
Procedures
If you use a Sun Ultra or Linux workstation to access your WAM, Glue or
GRACE account, you must logoff when you finish your work.
When you have completed your work on the workstation,
logout of your
account by selecting Logout from the Dash menu. When
you select
the Logout option, you will be asked: Do you really want
to
logout? Your choices are: Yes, really logout or
No, continue
this session.
Another way to terminate your session on the
workstation is to click
and hold down the mouse button while the mouse pointer is
positioned on the
desktop. This will display the Utilities menu and from
this menu
you
can select the Logout option. You will be given two choices
in case
you have decide at this point that you do not want to logout:
Really
Logout? or No, Don't Logout.
A final way to logout is to type logout at the
Unix prompt.
Changing Your Password
It is important to change your password on a regular basis,
and any time you suspect someone else may know it. To change your
password, type:
passwd
at the command prompt. You will be asked for your old password
once and your new password twice; nothing will appear on the
screen as you type. Your password should be difficult for others
(or computer programs) to guess. Do not use a word or name in any
common language, spelled either forward or backwards. Your
password must contain at least eight (8) characters and include
both numbers and letters.
Note: Remember that UPPER and lower case are
not the same in Unix.
Using the Sun Ultra or Linux Workstation
Sun Ultra and Linux workstation computers in the WAM labs fulfill the role
of integrated Unix workstations providing high-power computing and
graphics at individual workstations at the University.
Getting Started on the Sun Ultra or Linux Workstation
The Sun Ultra and Linux workstations use the X Windows
interface. X Windows is a graphical user interface which allows
users to interact with icons, buttons, menus and windows, using a pointing
device like a mouse. While similar to other window-based interfaces
(e.g., Windows XP and Apple OS X), X Windows behaves
differently.
The Linux workstation mouse behaves as a Windows PC
workstation with two buttons. The Sun Ultra workstation mouse has three
buttons. If you are asked to click (quickly press the mouse button
and release), double-click (click twice in rapid succession), or press a mouse button without
being told which one, use the left mouse button. For more
information on maneuvering windows and icons, refer to Manipulating Windows and Icons.
Moving the mouse causes the cursor (a symbol on the screen) to
move. The cursor may look like an "X" (when moving between windows), a
vertical bar (when entering text), a pointing hand (when selecting items
from a menu), or it can also appear in some other form depending upon the
software being used.
When you approach a Sun Ultra or Linux workstation, you should
see a window similar to the illustration below:
Enter your WAM login-name, press the
Enter key and enter your password in the appropriate box
and press the Enter key
again to begin your
session. If you make a mistake and you want to correct your
typing, press the
Back Space key to remove the text you typed.
If your login-name/password combination is incorrect, try
again. Make sure
that the case (i.e., upper or lowercase) of your login-name
and password are
correct. If you still have trouble, visit the OIT Help Desk.
As your login-name and password are processed, a preliminary
window is
displayed, similar to the illustration below. This display will
indicate the
time of your last login, and if you click on /etc/motd, you
can view
any important messages of the day.
Click on the area of the display labeled "Click here to
continue"
or wait momentarily for the workstation to
continue processing.
After a few seconds, your display screen will look similar to
the illustration below.
Fundamentally, X Windows includes the root
window, the mouse
pointer and the window manager.
The upper left and lower right windows (Xterm windows) are
available for you to enter Unix commands. All other windows (including
Xterm windows) and the pointer are "drawn" above the background root
window. The root window is analogous to the desktop on a Macintosh. More
information on the desktop will be discussed later.
When you move your mouse pointer within either of the two
windows, the window is activated. You will notice that the shade intensity
of the window changes when you move the mouse pointer within the window.
You don't have to click the mouse button to switch between
windows!
The lower left window is the console window. This is where
system messages are posted.
WAM Sun Ultra and Linux workstations use the FVWM2
window manager. It is the default
(preset) window manager. A window manager is a special program which
controls the location and behavior of X windows elements.
The look and feel of X windows is completely determined by the
configuration of a window manager and this document focuses upon the
capabilities of the workstations from the context of FVWM2.
The Button Bar
The lower right window is the Button Bar. The Button Bar
includes a collection of application icons (pictures representing
applications). See the Applications section of this
document for more information on application programs.
The root window (or desktop) is analogous to having
various objects on a desk surface that can be moved to various positions
on the desk. The left, center, and right mouse buttons can each be used on
the desktop to display selections and features.
Note: For recent on-line documentation
on using the Sun Ultra workstation, go to
http://www.helpdesk.umd.edu/os/unix. Information
contained within this document
and additional
features of the workstation can be found at this URL.
Using the Main and Misc Virtual Desktops
Unlike most PC and Macintosh systems, the desktop is not
limited to the
size of your screen. The desktop on the workstations has
extended
space, known as the virtual desktop, that is greater than
the physical
size of your screen. The virtual desktop feature is similar to
having a very
large screen in which you can only see portions of the screen at a
time.
Sun Ultra and Linux workstations in the WAM Lab have two
virtual
desktops, each with a
size set four times the size of your screen. These desktops are
Main
and Misc. You can switch between them by clicking on the
one you want
from the Button Bar.
When you take a close look at Main and Misc, you can see that
each one is
divided into four quadrants - making four areas of the desktop
available
for viewing purposes. If you click on one of these quadrants, your
screen
display will switch to the selected area of the virtual desktop.
If you
examine each quadrant even closer, you will notice that small
boxes have
been used to represent the placement of your windows on the
virtual
desktop. You can drag any one of these windows to another area of
the
virtual desktop.
WinList
If you click and hold down the right mouse button when
the mouse is
positioned on the desktop, you will see a listing of windows
(WinList) that you have opened. When you select any
application listed
on the WinList, you will automatically be switched to the window
where that
application resides.
Sticky Windows
A sticky window is a window that stays in view all the
time, even when
you move around on the virtual desktop. The default (preset)
settings on your
WAM account establish two sticky windows: xconsole and
Button
Bar. So when you click on any quadrant of Main
and
Misc, xconsole and Button Bar will follow you around.
To change a window's sticky properties, select
(Un)stick from the
WinOps menu. For more information on the WinOps
menu, refer to the
section on Manipulating Windows and Icons in
this document.
The Dash Menu
The Dash menu runs across the top of your display screen.
Dash is an application that gives you easy access to other
applications. When
you click on any item on the menu bar, a drop-down menu will
appear. There are
several types of items that can appear on a drop-down menu as
illustrated
below.
Note: If the Dash bar at the top of the screen
does not appear,
type 'dash-show' which should re-start the Dash menus.
If an item is dimmed on the menu, this indicates that it is not
on the
current workstation, but is available on other systems.
When you click on a directional arrow to the right of a menu
item, a
submenu is displayed with additional choices.
A menu item that has a question mark (?) to the right of
the menu item
indicates that additional information relating to the item will
appear.
Many of the items will have both a question mark and an
asterisk
(*) associated with the item. For these items, helpful
information will
appear to describe the item and indicate how to run the
application
program associated with the item. For example, in the above
illustration
Utilities has been selected from the Dash menu,
followed by the
selection of Backgrounds, and then Background
Colors. Following
Background Colors, the colors are listed.
Applications
Applications are programs available on the Sun Ultra
and Linux workstations. When you
select Applications from the Dash menu, it will include a listing
of
accessible programs. Included in this listing is Tap.
Tap initializes your entry into an application. To display a
listing of
various applications, move the mouse pointer to the Dash menu,
select
Applications and then click the right arrow next to any of
the
alphabetized groups of applications. For example, to find the
Word
Perfect application, click on the right arrow next to the
alphabetized
category for Word Perfect.
When you tap an application, you may receive a
preliminary display
before your actual entry into the application. You may be
required to type a command or click on an OK button before
you
successfully enter the application.
Descriptions of some of these applications are given
below,
including some of the more useful applications located on the
Button
Bar, including: Xdir, Mail, Music, Xterm, and
Xlock.
Island - This is an office suite of tools, including
Island Write
(document processing), Island Draw (graphics), Island Chart
(graphing charts and
tables) and others.
Mail - The e-mail program on the Button Bar uses the
pine
utility for sending and receiving standard e-mail to and from any
other
computers on the Internet or other attached networks. Standard
Unix mail
programs (as well as pine) can be used from within a Unix terminal
window and
from other programs that have a built-in
mailer.
Music - This is a feature that gives you the capability
of listening to
music from a compact disk (CD). You must have headphones for
listening.
Xdir - A tool that provides assistance in file
management. It is a
graphical display of the structure of files and directories on
your
account.
Xlock - Locks your workstation for a period of time
until you are
ready to use it again. This eliminates the need to logout and
login when you
leave your workstation momentarily. Do not leave your
workstation
locked for more than five minutes, it will allow others to logout
your
session.
Xterm - A Unix terminal window. Xterm allows you to
open standard
ASCII terminal windows for Unix commands.
Star Office - A productivity suite similar to MS Office
with
which it can share files.
WordPerfect 8 - A word-processing program.
WAM labs also have Unix text editor utilities which can be used
from a
terminal window. These include: Vi, Emacs, and
Pico.
There are also a number of programming languages available on
the
Sun Ultra: C, C++, Pascal, and FORTRAN.
A C compiler is available through the cc
command. Another, though quite different, object-oriented
extension to the C
programming language is C++. The C compiler is also a
C++
compiler. Pascal 4.2 is the Pascal compiler. The Fortran
compilers are
Fortran 77 5.2 and Fortran 95 6.1, the latter a superset of
Fortran 77.
Manipulating Windows and Icons
The mouse can be used to move windows around, change window
sizes, close
windows, and iconize (miniaturize) windows. An example of a
typical Xterm window is
shown below. A border encloses each window.
You can move a window by dragging the title bar or most
of the frame,
with the exception of the corners. To drag the title bar, move the
mouse
to the bar at the top of the window, press and hold the left mouse
button,
then move the window to a chosen position and release the mouse
button. You can also move the window by dragging the side
bar located
on all four sides of the window.
When you double click the left mouse button on the title
bar, the
active (highlighted) window will move to the back. Using the
center
button on the title bar will toggle the window from the
"foreground" to the
"background", and the right button will pop up the
Window Ops
menu. There are several other buttons located on the title
bar.
When you click on the Testudo (turtle) button, a
drop-down Window
Operations menu will appear with choices available for you to
Restore,
Move, Size, Minimize Maximize and Close a window. When
you choose Close from this menu you are initiating your
exit from the
application you are working within.
You can iconify a window (i.e., convert it into an icon) by
clicking on
the hyphen button on the right side of the title bar. Icons
can be
moved by dragging any part of the icon. To return to a full-size
window,
double click on the icon.
When you click on the maximize button, 80% of the screen
height is in
view, and when you click and hold down the maximize button,
100% of the
screen height is displayed. A double-click on the maximize
button will
toggle you between the original size and the whole screen.
With the X button you can close a window but not logout.
Always logout
of your account before leaving the workstation.
Note: Refer to Ending Your Sun
Ultra or Linux Workstation
Session: Logout Procedures for more information.
Dragging any frame (corner) of the window will allow you
to change the
dimensions of the window. Clicking the left mouse button
anywhere on
the frame will begin a resize operation. Clicking the right
mouse
button anywhere on the frame will drop down a list of functions
that you can
perform on a window (i.e., Window Operations). If you decide you
don't
want to perform a window operation, click anywhere on the root
window
(desktop) to dismiss this menu.
By using the scroll bar located on the left side of the
window, you can
move parts of a window into view. Use the left button on
the scroll bar
to scroll down and the right button to scroll up. A single
click on the
center button on the scroll bar will move your current view
of the
window to the position you clicked on. You can also click and hold
down the
center button to scroll the screen to the desired position. Moving
your
current view of the window can be confusing for new users who are
already
at the bottom of the screen and click the left mouse button to
move
down. No scrolling will occur and the current position indicator
will not
move.
Using Floppies and CDs
The Sun Ultras can accommodate standard 3.5 floppy disk and
CDs. Using floppy disk provides an alternative means of accessing
a WAM file. Sun Ultra workstations can read and write Unix formatted disks
as well as DOS formatted disks.
Floppies formatted on Sun Ultra workstations can only be used
on those workstations. Floppies formatted as DOS disks on the Sun Ultra
workstation can also be used on PC's and Macintoshes. It is not currently
possible to read or write Macintosh formatted disks on the Sun Ultras. To
format a floppy disk for Unix, at the Unix prompt type:
fdformat
When you are ready to use a floppy disk, you must mount
the floppy disk. To mount a floppy disk, insert the disk in the drive,
move your mouse to a Xterm window and type:
volcheck
It is important to note that when you mount a floppy disk, the
disk drive is established as a separate file system with files and directories
branching from the /floppy directory.
To eject a disk from the Sun Ultra move to a Xterm
window and type:
eject floppy
Your current working directory cannot be on the floppy disk
when you eject, otherwise you will get an
error.
Note: There is no auto eject upon logout, you
must eject your floppy before logout.
Files can be copied between the Sun Ultra workstation and the
floppy disk by using Xdir to drag the icons for the files onto the
icon for the floppy disk.
When using this method to copy files, be sure that the
tunneling icon is in the off position. The tunneling icon can be
toggled on and off by clicking once on the icon. The on position
can be observed when the icon appears to be filled.
Copying can also be performed using standard Unix commands (for
example,
cp and tar) from a Unix terminal
window.
The CD drive is located on the right side of the Sun Ultra. A
button on the drive will eject a tray where CDs are inserted. The
tray
is made of plastic, do not to press down on the tray or lean on it
when inserting the CD. This will damage the tray.
If you wish to use the CD player to listen to a music CD, after
inserting your CD,
click on the Music button on the
Button Bar. This interface acts as a CD player with
play, pause, stop and change track buttons.
Sound cards are not available in WAM Labs, but you can listen
to audio CDs
if you attach a set of headphones to the jack on the front of
the CD drive.
Note: If you are experiencing any problems
acknowledging the use of a floppy disk or CD, call the OIT Help Desk.
Help and Information
The underlying operating system on the Sun Ultra and Linux workstations
is a hybrid of Berkeley Unix and System V Unix. While some of the
operating system-level functions are Sun Ultra workstation-specific,
standard Unix documentation will be helpful in many situations. Unix
documentation can be accessed on-line by
using the Unix man command from a terminal window
(i.e.,
man man ), or by using the Sun Answerbook
utility.
Sun Ultra workstation documentation is available online at
http://docs.sun.com. General
computing help is available from the OIT Help Desk.
E-mail
Your e-mail address is your login name with either
@wam.umd.edu (WAM account) or @glue.umd.edu (Glue
account) attached to the end. So, if your login name is
jdoe, your e-mail address is:
jdoe@wam.umd.edu
This is the address you should give when you are asked for
your e-mail address.
Note: If you have a
new Mail@UMD account, your WAM or Glue accounts cannot receive e-mail.
For more information about Mail@UMD, see
https://www.oit.umd.edu/email.
Sending and receiving e-mail on the WAM/Glue system can be
done using a number of different tools. We have selected Pine
as the tool to discuss in this document because it can be used
from any kind of computer. In addition, it has many advanced
features.
For information about using graphical interface e-mail
clients such as SeaMonkey, Thunderbird or Outlook Express to read your
WAM/Glue e-mail, see
http://www.helpdesk.umd.edu/topics/email/os/windows or
http://www.helpdesk.umd.edu/topics/email/os/mac .
Starting the Pine Mail Program
To start Pine, type pine at the command prompt
and press Enter. You will see Pine's Main Menu
screen. On this screen you will find the options you will
normally use to read and send mail. You can return to the Main
Menu at any time during your mail session by typing
m. The Main Menu options enable you to
enter various Pine environments. To select an item from the
Main Menu, you can either type the letter associated with
the command name (c for Compose Message),
or you can use the up/down arrow keys to highlight a selection
from the menu and then press Enter.
- Compose Message allows you to write mail
messages to other people.
- Folder Index gives you a list of the mail
items in your current folder (which is usually your
incoming mail or Inbox).
- Folder List allows you to view a list of
items from the Local listing. After you highlight
Select Here to See Expanded List from the Local
section, press the Enter key to view the
items.
- Address Book allows you to set up nicknames
for people (or groups of people) so you don't have to
remember e-mail addresses.
Many Pine commands can be selected by typing a single
letter
(without pressing Enter). There are additional commands
available at the bottom of the screen - the collection varies from
screen to screen (e.g., the commands you use when composing mail
differ from those you use when working on your address
book). Type o (Other Commands) to view a
list of additional commands. Using Other Commands will
change the list to a new set of commands. Sometimes there are
three sets of such commands.
To receive general information on using Pine, type
? (Help) from the Main Menu. This
will give you information on all Pine commands.
Note: If you have a Mail@UMD account, you can use
Pine to read your e-mail. For more
information about setting up Pine for Mail@UMD, see
http://www.oit.umd.edu/mailatumd/whichserver.cgi.
Reading Mail
To read mail that has been sent to you, choose Folder
Index from the Main Menu (highlight the Folder
Index selection and press Enter, or type
i). If you have messages in your INBOX, you will
see a list of your mail.
If you have expanded your folder collection list, move the
direction arrow to highlight INBOX and press Enter to read
messages in your INBOX folder. To view a mail message, use the
arrow keys to highlight the message you want to read and press
Enter. When you finish reading it, there are many commands
you can issue to handle the message or to continue reading mail,
including:
| d |
Marks the message to be deleted.
The message will
appear in the message list marked with the
letter D, but
it will not be deleted until you quit
Pine. You can
also type u to undelete a
message. Typing
x will immediately delete
all messages marked
for deletion. |
| n |
Go to the next
message. |
| p |
Go to the previous
message. |
| r |
Reply to the message (send
mail back to the
person who sent mail to you). |
| i |
Return to the index of messages
for a folder. |
Remember that related commands are always printed at the bottom
of the screen. They are available to you whether you are using the
list of messages or viewing individual messages.
Sending Mail
Choose Compose Message from the Main Menu, or
type c from almost any screen in Pine. Type the
address of the person(s) you'd like to send mail to on the
To line, and a brief subject for the message on the
Subject line. Press Enter or the arrow keys
to move from line to line.
Note: The editor used in Pine for composing
messages is Pico. For more information on Pico, refer to
Using the
Pico Text Editor.
When you press Enter at the end of the Subject
line, you will be in the message content area, (i.e., the area
below the message headers). In the message content area,
it is not necessary to press Enter at the end of
every line because the word wrap feature (similar to a word
processing tool) does not require you to press Enter at
the end of each line. Your messages will be easier for other
people to read when you use this method. You should also press
Enter twice at the end of every paragraph so that the
paragraphs are separated by blank lines. Tip: Keep each
paragraph fairly short.
There are many editing commands you can use. They are shown at
the bottom of the screen as letters preceded by the caret
(^) symbol. The caret indicates that you must use
the Control key. For instance, after you create your
message, you will want to send it. At the command list at the
bottom of the screen, you'll see ^X next to
Send. This command is therefore known as
Control-x. To type it, press and hold down the
Control key and then type x - the same way
you would use the Shift key to type an uppercase
character. Once you type ^x, a prompt is
displayed to confirm the command. You can then type
y (yes) to send the message; or you can
type n (no) to return to the message and continue
editing. If you decide you'd rather not send the message, type
^c (Cancel) instead of ^x.
A quick way to send a mail message to someone is to type:
pine person's-address
at a Unix command prompt. You will be placed directly in
the Compose Message screen. Once you send the message, you
will exit the Pine program and return to the Unix command prompt.
Note: OIT directly mails users with information about
the status of their WAM/Glue accounts. It is important to read your WAM/Glue
mail or forward it to wherever you do read mail.
See:
http://www.helpdesk.umd.edu/documents/0/410.
Saving a Message
Unless you delete a message, it will remain available to you in
your INBOX. If you find that you are keeping many old messages,
it is more convenient to organize them into separate
folders. This is done by saving the message.
To save a message you have just read, type
s. Pine will ask which folder you want to save
the message into. Type a name that will remind you of the content
of the message; for example, you might want to save messages from
your professors into a folder titled work, and messages
from your friends into a folder titled friends. If you do
not indicate a folder name and press Enter instead, your
message will be saved in the default folder titled
saved-messages and the message will be marked for deletion
from your inbox when you expunge messages or exit from Pine. If
saved-messages has not been created, you must type
y (yes) to confirm the creation of this folder
before saving messages within it.
To reread these messages later, go into the Folder List
by typing l (ell), or choose Folder List
from the Main Menu. Then, use the arrow keys to select the
folder you saved the message into, and press Enter. To get
back to your incoming mail, go into the Folder List and
choose the INBOX folder.
Quitting Pine
Type q to quit Pine. A prompt is displayed to
confirm your exit from Pine. Type y (yes) to
confirm your exit. If you have marked any messages for deletion,
a prompt is displayed to confirm that you want to expunge
them, which deletes them completely. If you type
y, they will be completely deleted; if you type
n (no), the deleted messages will still be
available next time you use Pine (although they will still be
marked with the letter D). Unless you think you have made
a mistake in deleting a message, y is the
preferred choice.
Once you know the basics of the Pine program, you should be
able to figure out most of the other features of Pine for
yourself. Don't forget to type ? for help
whenever you need to know how to use a command or which command to
use.
You can learn more about Pine on-line at
http://www.helpdesk.umd.edu/topics/applications/email/pine.
Troubleshooting Your WAM, Glue or GRACE Account
WAM, Glue and GRACE account space is limited. Each user is
assigned a disk quota. This quota is an indicator
for the number of files you have
created and the limit on space that you can use. If you exceed
this amount, you will be unable to access
any more space until you have deleted some files.
If your account is full
you may not be able to delete mail or receive new mail. If you log
in to your account and get one of these messages, your
account may be over quota:
- your disk space is exceeded
- your mailbox is read-only
- new message move failed
Over Quota
To check if you are over quota:
- Login to your account with a terminal session (see
Connecting to Your WAM, Glue or GRACE Account).
Make sure you are not logged in to the account with a mail client
(such as Thunderbird, SeaMonkey, or Outlook Express).
- At the prompt, type:
quota
This displays how much space you are using. If you are using more
than 90% of your quota, you should clear space in your
account.
- Clear any temporary files by typing:
clearcache
If you are still over quota, go to the next section to
determine which directories and files are causing problems. You
can then delete any unwanted items.
Your account has 3 main directories: pub, home,
mail. This section looks at the pub and home
directories. The third directory, mail, stores your Inbox
and messages waiting to be delivered.
- The pub directory is where public files for your website are
stored (www.wam.umd.edu/~loginname or
www.glue.umd.edu/~loginname).
- The home directory stores files or directories you've created,
and mail folders such as Sent Items and Trash.
Deleting Files in Pub
To delete files in your Pub directory:
- While connected to your account using a terminal program, list
the files and directories in your pub directory by typing:
cd ../pub
then list the files from smallest to largest by typing:
du -sk * | sort
-n
- If you see a file or directory you no longer need, remove it
by typing:
rm filename
or
rm -rf directory
Deleting Files in Home
To delete files in your Home directory:
- Return to your home directory from the pub directory
by typing:
cd
then list the files in order of smallest to largest by typing:
du -sk * | sort
-n
To delete files, follow the instructions in step 2.
- If you see mail folders (Sent Items or
Trash) use the Unix mail program to delete messages (see
Using Unix Mail). If you have a directory
titled mail or Mail in your home directory,
they may contain mail folders. To move into one of those mail
directories type:
cd Mail
or
cd mail
- To obtain a list of folders within a mail or
Mail directory type:
du -sk * | sort
-n
Using Unix Mail
When you are over quota, the mail program you normally use may
not be able to delete messages. The Unix mail program allows you
to delete
messages in any mail folder if you know the folder name.
To access your Inbox, from a command prompt (rac, x,
y, z) type:
Mail -f
To delete messages in other mail folders, use the same
command:
- Mail -f Sent
- Mail -f "Sent Items"
- Mail -f personal
You will see a screen of messages with several
columns. The left column is the message number, followed
by the sender, date and time, message size, and
subject.
Moving Around
Use commands at the Mail& prompt to move around the
folder:
| h |
This lists the current page of messages |
| z |
Moves you to the next page of messages |
| z- |
Moves you to the previous page of messages |
Reading Messages
If you need to read an e-mail you can type the message number
at the Mail& prompt and press Enter. To return
to
the mail prompt type q.
Deleting Messages
You can delete messages individually, in a range, or several at
once:
| Command |
Example |
| d message# |
d 8 |
| d #-# |
d 10-18 |
| d # # # # |
d 2 9 14 22 |
Note: In most folders your first message will be a
system email with the subject of "DON'T DELETE THIS MESSAGE."
You will want to leave that message alone to avoid problems in the
future.
At this point messages are marked to be deleted but they are
not purged. If you've mistakenly deleted a message, type
e(x)it at the Mail& prompt. To exit
and purge the deleted messages type (q)uit.
Check your quota again (Over Quota). If
you are still over quota contact the OIT Help Desk for assistance.
Printing Your Work
Print Accounts are required for printing in all WAM, Glue, and
many Open Workstation Labs (OWLs). A personal print account has
two parts: a Terrapin Express account and a computer-based print
account. You can obtain both parts at the Terrapin Express
Contract Office in the South Campus Dining Hall, room
1109. Opening a Terrapin Express debit account requires a minimum
deposit of $20. If you already have a Terrapin Express account,
you can obtain a print account from the OIT Help Desk.
When using your WAM/Glue account, you can print to a laser
printer in each of the WAM labs and to other designated
locations. Applications that have been configured to allow
printing, usually have a Print option available. If this
option is not available to you from a menu within the application,
you can use the qpr command followed by the
filename. This command can be typed from the Unix
prompt:
qpr
filename
If you are on one of the WAM RACs (Remote Access Centers), the
above command would send filename to the IBM 3800 printer
located at the OIT dispatch window in AV Williams Bldg, room
1299. This printer is not a postscript printer; therefore, the
output of your printout will be "text only". If you are on a
Sun in a WAM lab, the file will print in the lab.
You can also specify a designated printer using the q
option. For example qpr -q printer-name
filename would print filename to a designated
printer-name. Using this option provides you with a means
for printing to a postscript printer.
|
WAM Lab
|
Printer Name
|
|
EPSL
|
epsl
|
|
McKeldin Library
|
mckeldin
|
|
Parking Garage II
|
pg2
|
|
Worcester
|
wor
|
|
CSS WAM PC Lab 3330
|
cscpc
|
|
CSS WAM Mac Lab 3332
|
cscmac
|
|
AVW WAM
|
avw
|
In all WAM labs, and most other Open Workstation Labs (OWLs), a
print authorization dialog box will prompt you for a page
estimate, your print account number and password. The dialog box
also notes the printer to which your job will be directed and a
queue name (to help you trace your print job). Your
printed copy is then sent to the laser printer you selected.
You will be prompted for your print account number, password
and page estimate for remote access also. This is a sample of
this dialog from a typical WAM Unix prompt:
rac1:~: qpr -q pg2 program1.c
Laser Print Cost Recovery Program.
Print Accounts are now required.
Charging now in effect, $0.10 per page
| Maximum pages [25]: |
Leave blank or enter a number |
| Authentication account: |
| Print account password? |
Note that nothing will appear on your
monitor when you enter your
authorization account number and
password. |
If your job exceeds available funds and you try to print, your
job will be aborted and you will receive a dialog box informing
you that you have insufficient funds. Visit the website
http://bank.umd.edu and transfer additional funds from your
Terrapin Express account to the print bank. You must provide your
authorization number and password when prompted.
Note: For more information about using your
Print Account, refer
to
Printing From A WAM Computer.
Note: Information about obtaining a print
account is on-line at
http://www.helpdesk.umd.edu/topics/computer_labs/printing.
Note: A list of queues is available on-line at
http://www.helpdesk.umd.edu/topics/computer_labs/printing/admin/180.
Bad Copy Credit
Credit request forms are available at
http://www.helpdesk.umd.edu/topics/computer_labs/printing/admin/179.Credit
is given for bad print
copies caused by malfunctioning printers. Credit is not given for
poor formatting or editorial mistakes. (Samples of bad print jobs
are posted in labs.)
Credit requests will be processed within three working days of
receipt. Funds will be credited to your print account; no cash
will be exchanged. Credit must be requested within one month of
the bad printout.
Note: You will never be asked to divulge your
password in order to receive credit for poor copies.
Unix File System
The Unix file system uses a tree structure. At the base
of the tree is a root. Rising
from the
root are a number of branches. These branches lead to other
branches and leaves.
In Unix, each branch relates to a directory; each leaf
relates to a file. At
the base
of the file system is a directory called root, which is
denoted by the slash (/). From
this
directory you can trace a path of directories to any file in the
system.
Each login name is assigned a home directory. This is
your personal workspace on the
system. When you log onto the system, your default
(preset) working directory is your home
directory. The home directory is set up as a private
directory; only the user who owns the home
directory may see files it contains.
A path describes the chain of directory branches which
lead to a particular directory
(or
file). Each directory name (and the final filename, if any) in the
path is separated from the
others by
a slash (/) and therefore creates a pathname. For example,
the /usr/users pathname
initiates from root, to the usr directory, then to
the users file (or
directory).
Your working directory (or current directory) is
the branch where you are
currently
located within the file system; this is where Unix will first look
for files you wish to access
or
commands you wish to execute. You can find the path to your
current directory by entering the
pwd (present working directory) command.
A pathname that begins with / is an absolute path. It
refers to a precise file or
directory
starting from the root directory. A pathname which does not
begin with a / is a
relative
path and refers to a directory or file starting from or
relative to your current
directory.
There are two directories that need further discussion. Your
current directory is
called
. (one period), pronounced "dot". In any command that
requires a directory name, the
single
period refers to the current directory. The parent
directory of the current directory
(the next
level on the hierarchy) is called .. (two periods),
pronounced "dot dot".
Files and Directories
One of the benefits of having an account on the WAM, Glue or
GRACE
system is having a home directory where you can store
files. Inside this home directory, you can create any files you
choose, and you can create subdirectories to better organize
your files.
You can envision the way directories are organized in terms of
a family tree. All of the directories on the WAM, Glue or GRACE
system are
descendents of the root directory. The root directory is
indicated by a / (forward slash). Its children
include various subdirectories, one of which is your home
directory identified through your login name.
The hierarchy below starts with the root directory and branches
off into other subdirectories.
Note: Home is your home directory, where
you start when you log in. Pub is a directory in
which you can make files public for the use of others,
mail is where your mail is stored, and
backup is a directory leading to on-line backups of
your files.
Public, Home and Mail Directories
The public directory, /pub/login-name, is a
special directory
established for you to share your files with others. When you put
files under
this directory, they will be viewable to everyone. The
/pub/login-name
directory is where your web pages should be placed.
An associate to the public directory is your home directory,
/homes/login-name. Files in this directory are
private. This is
where you will find all of your files and directories.
Besides knowing which mail program you are using to send and
read mail,
you will notice that mail is stored on your account under the
/mail/login-name directory.
Changing Directories
To change your current directory to another directory, use the
cd command. For
example,
enter:
cd
pathname-of-the-directory
For example, when using the file structure pictured above, you
could move into the friends directory by using the following
command:
cd /home/letters/friends
If the directory that you are changing to is further down the
same path as your current
directory, you only need to specify the path leading to the directory.
For example, if you wished to access the toMom
directory, and your current directory was letters, you would only
have to type:
cd toMom
To get back to your home directory, simply type:
cd
Specifying a Directory Pathname (3 Ways)
The cd command is used to change to another
directory. You can only change into a directory that is the
parent or child of (immediately above or below) the directory you
are currently in, unless you specify the pathname to the
directory you wish to change into. A pathname is a way of
representing the directory hierarchy to the file you are
accessing. Slash (/) symbols are used to separate
directories. For example:
/users/your-loginname/home/letters/toMom
First Way: Relative to the Directory You Are in Currently
If you are currently in your home directory (as you are
when you log in), and want to change into a directory you created
called toMom you would
type:
cd letters
cd toMom
or you could type:
cd letters/toMom
In this example, letters is a directory that is the
child of the home directory you are currently in. If you
were already in the directory toMom, and wanted to change
into the directory friends, (its sibling), you would change
into the parent directory letters before you would change
into friends. To do this, you would use ..
(pronounced dot dot). So, you could type:
cd ..
cd friends
or you could type:
cd ../friends
Second Way: Relative to the Root Directory
To specify a path relative to the root directory, use the slash
(/) symbol. If you are currently in your home
directory, and want to change into the directory of a user whose
login name is jdoe, you could type:
cd /
cd users
cd jdoe
or you could type:
cd /users/jdoe
Note that if there were a jdoe, you would not be able to
change to this directory unless you have been given permission
using a system called AFS. Others can't access your files
unless you specifically let them. Type man afs at
the command prompt for more information on this system or see The AFS File System.
Third Way: Relative to Your Home Directory
To specify a path relative to your home directory, begin the
path with the tilde (~) symbol. The tilde
indicates your home directory. This is useful when you are not in
your home directory (or you're not sure whether you are in your
home directory), and when you want to change to another
directory. To use the example in the previous section where you
wanted to change to the toMom directory, if you are not
sure if you are in your home directory, you may type:
cd
~/letters/toMom
which guarantees that your cd (change
directory) command is initiated from your home
directory. The tilde can also refer to someone else's home
directory when you follow it with that user's login name. For
example, instead of typing:
cd
/users/jdoe/home
you can move to the jdoe/home directory by typing:
cd ~jdoe
Note: If you do not specify a directory when
using the cd command, you will return to your home
directory.
Using Pathnames with Commands
Once you learn how to use these pathnames, you can use them
with any Unix command. If you want to edit a file titled
george.1 in the friends subdirectory, you could
change to that directory before issuing the command:
cd
~/letters/friends
pico george.1
or you could use the pathname as part of the
command:
pico
~/letters/friends/george.1
Listing Files
To see a listing of the files in your current directory, use
the ls command.
ls
If there are files in a directory that you do not care to see
when you request a simple directory listing (ls), give those files
a name that begins with a period. Use the ls command with
the -a option to see a list of all files in the current directory
including hidden or dot files. (Unix options are usually preceded by a
hyphen.)
ls -a
Such files are hidden because the simple ls command will
not show them. Type ls -l to see information about your files,
including the size and last date of modification.
Creating and Deleting Directories
To create a directory, use the mkdir command. This command
creates a subdirectory under the current directory. For example, to
create a directory named project1 you would type:
mkdir project1
To delete a directory, use the rmdir command. When you
use the rmdir command, you must delete all of the files in the
directory before you can delete the directory itself. For example, to
delete a directory named project1 (under your current
directory) you would type:
rmdir project1
Deleting Files
To delete an individual file, use the rm command. For
example, to delete a file named test.data, you would type:
rm test.data
If you type rm -i test.data, the system will prompt you
to verify the removal of the
file. To delete all files in a subdirectory and the subdirectory, type
\rm -rf directory. Use caution when using the -rf
option.
If you accidentally create a file with a name that has garbled
characters in it, the rm command may not be able to delete
it. To delete such a file, you may be able to quote the offending
character by prefixing it with a backslash (\). If this doesn't work,
first type ls -i to find the inode number of your file
(the inode number is a unique identifier for
the file). Make sure that your current directory is the directory
containing the file you want to delete, then type the following command to
remove the file (don't forget the backslash at the end of the line):
find . -inum inode-number -exec rm -i
{}
\;
where inode-number is the actual inode number of the
file you are deleting. You will be
prompted to verify that you really want to delete the file before
it is removed.
File Recovery
If you are in the AFS file system, your backup directory can
also be accessed from
/users/loginname/backup/home.
To gain access to the most recent backup, type:
cd
/users/loginname/backup/home
If you need to recover a file, do so as soon as possible. Since
a new backup is performed every morning at 12:00 a.m., the
previous day's backup is lost. If you do not recover a lost file before
the next backup, it will have to be restored from tape.
Note that these backups are a read-only copy of your
files; while they have the same ACL (Access Control List) as your
own files, they are in a read-only volume and can not be modified
or deleted. You cannot directly write into the backup volume to
add additional files.
If you are in NFS (Network File System) , contact your local
lab manager or the OIT Help Desk to see about file
recovery.
Also note that there may be times when your backups are
unavailable due to storage and maintenance
requirements. Never intentionally delete or modify your
files expecting later to recover them from the backups.
Basic Unix Commands
There are a number of Unix commands of which you should
learn. Type these commands at the command prompt.
| cat filename [filename...] | Displays the
contents of a file or files on the screen. |
| cd
directoryname | Change directories into
directoryname. |
| cd .. | Change to the parent of the directory
from the directory you're currently in. |
| cd | Change to your home directory. |
| cp filename1 newname | Copy
filename1
to newname. This command can be used to copy the contents of a file
into another file with a resulting newname. |
| cp filename directoryname | Copies
a file into another directory keeping the same file name for both
copies. |
| chfn | Change the information revealed about you
when someone fingers you. |
| du -sk | Displays a summary of disk usage
instead of a comprehensive listing. |
| file filename | Indicates what specific
file
type
file is. |
| finger username | Get information
about
username. This could be a user on the WAM system or on another
computer elsewhere; specify the person's full e-mail address for
username unless that person has a WAM account, in which case you
should give their WAM login name. |
| less filename [filename
...] | Displays the contents of a file or files one screen at a
time;
press the Spacebar to continue one page (screen) at a time;
Return to advance a line at a time; q to stop or ?
for help. |
| ls | List the names of your files. |
| ls -a | List all of your files, including those
starting with a . (dot). |
| man commandname | Display help
text (a
manual page) for commandname. Use the spacebar to
page
down through the help, and q to quit. |
| man -k keyword | Finds all manual
pages whose
titles or descriptions mention keyword. |
| mkdir directoryname | Make
(create) the directory directoryname. |
| mv filename1
filename2 | Move filename1
to filename2. This command can be used to rename a file, or to
move it from one directory to another by giving a path for one or both
filenames. This command can also be used to rename directories using the
syntax:
mv directory1 directory2. |
| mv filename directoryname |
Moves a file to another directory.
|
| passwd | Change your password. You will be
asked
for your old password once and your new password twice. When you type
them,
neither will appear. |
| pine | Starts MIME-compliant mail program.
Allows
for binary attachments like word processing files. |
| pwd | Display the path to your current
directory.
This is an abbreviation for "print working
directory." |
| qpr filename | Prints the file
filename to the default printer. |
| qpr -q printer filename |
Prints the file filename to a designated printer indicated as
printer. |
| quota | Used to display how much of your
allocated quota of 100,000 kilobytes (100 megabytes) have been used.
Note: The command fs listquota only works if you are in the
AFS file system on WAM or Glue. Not all Glue users are in AFS; some are
in NFS. |
| rm filename | Remove (delete) the
file
filename. |
| rmdir directoryname |
Remove
(delete)
the directory directoryname, providing the directory is empty. |
| who | Displays who is currently on the
system. |
| w | Displays a list of users who are currently
on
the system and what they are doing. |
| zwrite userid | Allows interactive
communication with another user. To send message type Ctrl-D on a
new
line. |
Redirecting Input and Output
Most of the commands listed above produce output at your
workstation. Some take input from
the
keyboard. In Unix you can use special characters to redirect input
and/or output to files and
other
programs. These characters are used to redirect input/output:
|
<
|
Take input from a file
|
|
>
|
Send output to a file
(create/overwrite)
|
|
>>
|
Append output to a file
(create/append)
|
|
| | Send (pipe)
output of one command to the input of another command
|
Some examples of these characters in use are:
|
mail johndoe < mailfile
|
Sends the file mailfile as
a mail message to user
johndoe.
|
|
sort < unsorted >
sorted
|
Sorts the file unsorted and
stores the output in the file
sorted.
|
|
cat listing >>
temp
|
Appends the file listing to
the end of the file
temp.
|
|
who | more
|
Displays the users on the system a
screen at a time.
|
Wildcards and Other Special Characters
Special characters may be of some use: * (asterisk),
? (question mark), and
;
(semicolon).
The * and ? are called wildcard
characters. They can be used for pattern matching when issuing commands.
The * matches any number (0-N) of characters. For example, if you
were to issue the command rm *, the * would match any file
name in your current directory and all of the files in the directory
would be deleted with the exception of hidden files. Use caution when
using the asterisk to remove files. If you instead typed the command
rm *.c, only files ending in .c would be deleted.
Remember, once you remove a file it is gone forever.
The ? matches any single character; e.g., if you were to
type the command cat
prog? any
file named prog followed by a single character would be
printed to the screen. Files
named
prog1, proga, and prog- would all match
prog? and be printed; files
named
prog or prog23 would not match prog?.
There are exceptions for using the * and ? when
referring to hidden
files. Hidden files
begin with a dot. For example, .cshrc is a hidden file. For
these types of files, the
cat
prog? command mentioned above will not work if the filename
begins with a dot; you must
include the
dot as a part of the command (For example, cat .prog?).
The semicolon can be used to separate multiple commands entered
on the same line. For
example:
cd datadir; cat
test.data
Job Control - Running Programs in the Background
A final useful special character is & (ampersand),
which is used for job control. If you want to start working on
something else while another command is being processed, you can do
so by placing an & after the command. This is called placing
a command in the background. For instance, if you wish to remove a
large directory of files before you begin to work on a different
project, you could type:
rm -r largedirectory
&
If you've already initiated a command, you can pause the
execution of this command by typing a
Ctrl-z. You can then resume execution of the paused command
in the background by typing
bg. Commands paused with Ctrl-z can also be brought
to the foreground; that
is,
they can be brought back to normal execution rather than being
placed in the background. To
restart normal
execution of a job paused with Ctrl-z, type fg.
If you have several jobs in the background, the fg
command will restart the job most
recently
paused. To restart any of the other commands that are paused, you
must know its job number. The
jobs
command will list the job number and state of any background
jobs. For example, here is the
output from the
jobs command for a user who has paused a vi editing
session, paused the man
command
and has a C program compiling in the background:
jobs
[1] + Stopped vi prog2
[2] - Stopped man rn
[3] Running cc -g prog1.c
The job number is the number listed in brackets. To restart a
command (other than the most recent), you use the fg command like
this:
fg
%job-number
To restart the vi command in the above example, you
would type:
fg %1
Be aware of processes (programs and commands) that you place in
the background. Certain programs that wait for user input, such as editors
or the lisp interpreter, will continue running if left in the
background.
You can determine whether or not you have left any processes
running by using the ps
(process
status) command. This command displays information concerning
every process running that belongs
to your
login name. For example, here is the output from the ps
command; a lisp process
has been
suspended:
|
PID
|
TTY
|
S
|
TIME
|
CMD
|
|
18816
|
ttyp4
|
S
|
0:04
|
-csh (csh)
|
|
18834
|
ttyp4
|
T
|
0:00
|
lisp
|
|
18836
|
ttyp4
|
R
|
0:00
|
ps
|
PID indicates the process id number of each
process. S indicates the state of
the process
(in the example above, S and T indicate paused or
waiting processes and R
indicates a
running process). CMD indicates the command which invoked
the process. In the above
command,
csh indicates the shell and ps indicates the command
that was executed.
To terminate a process, enter the command:
kill pid
where pid is the process id number of the process you
eliminate. If you eliminate
-csh,
you will log yourself off. Therefore in the example above, to
terminate the lisp process,
enter the
command:
kill 18834
If the kill command doesn't terminate the process, try using
the kill -9 command, which is a more extreme version of the
command, and should terminate any process. You should always use
the kill command first, as the kill -9 command doesn't give
the program a chance to do any cleanup before it exits.
Occasionally, you might find that you are logged on more than
once. You can tell this either by issuing the w command to see who
is logged onto the system or by doing the ps command and
seeing a csh process active for more than one TTY
(terminal) line at the same time.
Below is a sample of the output from the ps command if
you were logged on more than
once:
|
PID
|
TTY
|
S
|
TIME
|
CMD
|
|
18872
|
ttyp0
|
S
|
0:03
|
-csh (csh)
|
|
18901
|
ttyp5
|
S
|
0:03
|
-csh (csh)
|
|
18917
|
ttyp5
|
R
|
0:00
|
ps
|
The above shows that a user has a csh process active on
ttyp0 and ttyp5. After you determine the csh you are
using, use the kill command to abort the additional process. Use
the tty command to determine your current TTY line:
tty
/dev/pts/6
Additional processes that are not associated with your current
TTY can be aborted; therefore, using the sample output of the
ps command and the above output of the tty command,
you would kill process 18872 because it is not associated with your
current tty (i.e.,ttyp5).
You can also kill a job with the
command:
kill
%job-number
Editing Files
OIT Unix systems have several editors available for creating
new and editing existing files. The three most popular editors are
Pico, Emacs and Vi.
Pico is the easiest text editor to use. This visual
editor displays a command list at
the bottom of the screen for performing basic tasks such as justifying
text, cutting and pasting text and spell-checking a file. For more
information on the pico editor, refer to Using the Pico Text
Editor.
Emacs is a very powerful editor. It allows you to use
and customize a very large set
of
commands. Emacs has environmental modes for basic text
editing, editing C program
files and
editing Lisp program files. For more information on the
emacs editor, refer to Using the Emacs Text
Editor.
Vi is an editor that is almost universally available on
Unix-based machines. It is
available on
all of the Unix systems maintained by OIT. For more information on
the Vi editor, refer to Using the Vi Text
Editor.
Changing Your Account's Environment
When you establish your WAM, Glue or GRACE account, a number of
default (preset) configuration files govern various parameters, window
size and placement, and where to look for commands. You can alter these
defaults by editing various hidden files (dot files) in your home
directory:
|
.environment
|
- for modifying environmental
variables and conditions
|
|
.path
|
- for modifying the search path
used when executing commands
|
|
.aliases
|
- for setting user aliases
|
|
.cshrc.mine
|
- for setting other user shell
variables not mentioned above (do not edit
.cshrc)
|
|
.startup.X
|
- for setting startup commands in X-Windows connections |
|
.startup.tty
|
- for setting startup commands in text-only connections |
However, should you want to return to default status again, run
the original defaults script program again by typing
/usr/local/scripts/newdefaults
at the Unix prompt. This will return your account to its
default settings. Previous configuration modifications will be moved to
filename-date; whereas, filename is the file you
modified and date is the date of the modification. For example,
.path-27-11-96 would represent the November 27,
1996 version of .path. It is also important to note that after you
type /usr/local/scripts/newdefaults at the Unix prompt,
the .aliases file and any .mine (.cshrc.mine,
logout.mine, etc.) files will not be changed.
Internet Services
You may have heard of Internet services, such as FTP, mailing
lists, and the World Wide Web. These services are described
below.
FTP is used to transfer
files from one computer connected to the Internet to another
computer connected to the Internet. Secure versions of FTP
such as SFTP and SCP are available for use on WAM, Glue and GRACE.
Note: For more information about using FTP and
Listserv, refer to
Transferring
Files with SFTP or SCP and A
Basic Guide to Listserv.
Note: Non-secure connections (telnet, ftp) are not allowed to
WAM
or
Glue hosts.
Mailing lists are similar to the newsgroups in Usenet
News, but the articles appear in your e-mail, and you submit your
own articles via e-mail. You can find a list of publicly
accessible mailing lists in the newsgroup news.lists. You
typically subscribe to a mailing list by sending an e-mail message
to an automatic subscription mechanism.
A Listserv list is an example of an automatic
subscription mechanism. The address to use to send e-mail to will
be given in the mailing lists. A typical mailing list is the
fyi mailing list operated at the University. To subscribe
to this list you would send mail to:
listserv@listserv.umd.edu
In the body of the e-mail message, you would write:
subscribe fyi firstname
lastname
You would then receive a confirmation message back telling you
that you had been added to the mailing list and giving information
about the list. When you read or hear about a mailing list, it is
very important that you find out what e-mail address to send your
subscription request to; otherwise, you will not be able to
subscribe.
The World Wide Web allows you to retrieve information
that other Internet users have made available. The web uses
hypertext and by clicking on a hypertext link you
can be connected to a document in another information database
located in another part of the world. You can look at a
screen of information and click on words and pictures that
will link you to text, graphics, and sound files. A web page may
connect to information from numerous sites all over the
world. You can connect to the web with a graphical interface
web browser like SeaMonkey, Firefox or Internet
Explorer.
Note: For more information on the World Wide
Web, refer to A Pocket Guide
to the World Wide Web.
Getting Help
One feature of Unix is that system documentation is
available on-line. If you need help
with a
particular command (e.g., identifying appropriate usage or
syntax), type:
man
command
Invoking the man command displays the relevant Unix
reference-manual pages. If you are uncertain about features associated
with any command, review the manual pages.
The apropos command lists all on-line manual sections that
contain instances of given keywords in their
title. The format for apropos is:
apropos
keyword
One point of contact is the OIT Help Desk. There are two ways
you can contact this
resource:
You can also submit a problem report to the OIT Help Desk by
typing request at the Unix command prompt.
The AFS File System
The WAM, Glue and GRACE systems use AFS, a network file system
that allows
the individual terminals to access files on WAM, Glue and GRACE
servers across the University. AFS is WAM, Glue and GRACE
specific. It uses
a robust, distributed model that provides user authentication and
an extensive set of file access methods and protections. For more
information about AFS, visit
http://www.helpdesk.umd.edu/documents/1/1222.
Note: Most, but not all Glue accounts are on
the AFS system.
Acceptable Use Policy
Please take a look at the University of Maryland's Computer
Acceptable Use Policy. It can be found at the following URL:
http://www.nethics.umd.edu/aup/.
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